VIDEO: Major cities welcome first tourists of 2018

Ho Chi Minh City greeted the first foreign visitors of 2018 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 1 morning.

Ho Chi Minh City's first foreign visitors of 2018 were welcomed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on January 1 morning. (Source: VNA)

The city’s first visitors who come from France were treated to art performances, and Vietnamese coffee and tea. They were also guided how to make “non la” (conical hats), flowers and locusts from coconut leaves.

Mbodj Camtam said she visits HCM City every New Year holiday, and travels to many locations like Phan Thiet and Binh Thuan with her family. She particularly noted the fusion of modernity and tradition in Vietnam’s development.

Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, said the city served more than 6.38 million international holiday-makers in 2017, up 22.88 percent year-on-year. The number is expected to climb to 7.5 million this year.

In 2017, the southern hub served an estimated 24.98 million domestic tourists, a rise of 14.6 percent against 2016. The city aims to attract 29 million domestic vacationers and earn 138 trillion VND (6.07 billion USD) from the tourism sector in 2018.

The municipal Department of Tourism also held a ceremony to greet the first domestic visitors of the year on early January 1.

The same day, the central city of Da Nang welcomed the year’s first tourists, who flew in from the Republic of Korea (RoK) on Vietjet’s VJ881 flight. Also on the morning of January 1, nearly 2,000 Chinese holiday makers arrived in the city on cruise liner MSC Lirica.

According to the municipal Department of Tourism, during the three-day New Year holiday from December 30, 2017 to January 1, 2018, the total number of tourists to Da Nang is estimated at nearly 143,000, up 17.9 percent year-on-year, of which over 81,500 are foreigners.

In 2017, Da Nang hosted 6.6 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 19 percent, and earned over 19.4 trillion VND (853.6 million USD) from tourism, up 20.6 percent over 2016 and fulfilling 104.9 percent of the set target. VNS